Category Archives: Elections

Conservative super PAC back in action with mailings that hit Dems over new taxes

Posted on April 19, 2013 by | Comments Off

The conservative super PAC “Vermonters First” is venturing back into legislative politics, this time with a statewide mailing that hammers Democratic lawmakers for proposed increases on a slew of taxes.

Earlier this year, Vermonters First, which spent about $1 million on behalf of Republican candidates during the last election cycle, aired a series of 15-second television ads calling Dems on the carpet for a proposed increase in the gas tax.

The group, funded almost exclusively (as of the latest campaign-finance disclosure deadlines) by Burlington heiress Lenore Broughton, is out now with glossy tri-folds, which began arriving Tuesday in the mailboxes of voters in districts with Democrats in the House.

“(Your representative here) just voted to go on a massive taxing spree!” the mailing says.

A photograph of a shopping cart filled with a pair of jeans, gas can, miniature house, cup of soda and a burger symbolizes the suite of provisions in three revenue bills passed by the Vermont House so far this yaer.

The House’s $23 million revenue bill would eliminate the sales tax exemption on soft drinks, candy, bottled water and items of clothing that cost more than $110. The legislation also raises the meals tax for a year, and would raise income taxes on rich people. An education-funding bill passed in February, meanwhile, would send property tax rates up by 5 cents.

“The high cost of living in Vermont is going to get worse if Democratic (your rep’s name here) gets her way,” the mailer says.

The coup de grace: a perforated tear-off, onto which Vermonters First has already printed the home address of the Democratic rep, that encourages voters to “write your own personal message” to the officeholder.

Broughton cried foul last year when a group of single-payer advocates picketed outside her Burlington home in protest of her media blitzes.

Vermonters First’s lone staff, Tayt Brooks, didn’t respond to requests for comment, as usual. But the mailings indicate that Broughton is as committed as ever to ending one-party rule, and is willing to spend a lot of money to get it done.

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Vt. GOP struggle: Go moderate? Or stay the course of conservative?

Posted on April 17, 2013 by | 4 Comments
Phill Scott

Phil Scott

They’ve descended to super-minority status in both the House and Senate, and lay claim to just one of Vermont’s six statewide offices.

By the numbers at least, the once-dominant Vermont Republicans have reached a new low in their years-long fall from grace. Their fight for the future, however, is being waged not with the Democrats that so embarrassed them in the last two election cycles, but among fellow Republicans vying against each other for control of the party’s organizational apparatus.

The emergence of two factions — one led by Vermont Republican Party Chairman Jack Lindley, the other by Lt. Gov. Phil Scott — has pitted the old-guard GOP against a cadre of upstart reformists looking to put some distance between themselves and the Republican National Committee.

As a group led by Scott pieces together a statewide re-branding strategy aimed at picking up the centrists and Independents he says have been turned off by the party in recent years, Lindley and others are beginning to push back against a plan that would, in Lindley’s words, “turn its back on the national party.”

“I’m not about to go down the road of trying to have a party in Vermont that’s Democrat-lite,” Lindley said in an interview last week.
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Dottie Deans elected to serve as Democratic Party’s new chairwoman

Posted on April 15, 2013 by | Comments Off

The Vermont Democratic Party has a new chairman.
The Democrats’ state committee on Saturday voted unanimously in favor of Dottie Deans, who replaces outgoing chairman Jake Perkinson. Deans, of North Pomfret, most recently served as vice-chairwoman of the party, and said she’s eager to begin preparing for the 2014 election cycle.

“I look forward to continuing our work concentrating on our
biennial reorganization in our towns, counties, and state as well as
supporting our elected representatives here and in Washington and
preparing for the 2014 elections,” Deans said in a statement.

According to a party release, Deans is a former elementary school teacher who began her climb through party ranks as town chairwoman in Pomfret. Deans is also known for her local HIV/AIDS Service organization, H2RC, where she served as a volunteer, staff member, and most recently stepped down as the board chairwoman, according to the release.

“As a teacher I know that an integral part of learning is listening and
staying focused on the tasks at hand,” Deans said. “I will concentrate on working with all Democrats to grow and strengthen our outreach and presence
throughout our state.”

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Condos stays in-house for new elections chief

Posted on March 19, 2013 by | Comments Off

Vermont will soon have a new elections chief.

Longtime Director of Elections and Campaign Finance Kathy Scheele is stepping down at the end of March. Secretary of State Jim Condos announced today that he’s promoting Will Senning to take over the position.

Born and raised in Duxbury, Senning, who holds a JD from Vermont Law School, has worked in the state elections office since 2011. Condos said in a release that under Scheele’s guidance, Senning has become well acquainted with the laws and responsibilities involved with the elections process.

“Will has built a strong relationship with our town clerks and other local election officials,” Condos said in a written statement. “He believes that the Elections Division should work as a team with Vermont’s local officials to serve their citizens as they take part in our critical and important elections process.”

 

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UPDATED: Perkinson out as Democratic Party chair

Posted on March 13, 2013 by | Comments Off

Jake Perkinson, who’s milling about the Statehouse cafeteria this morning in the wake of announcing his resignation as chairman of the Vermont Democratic Party, says a confluence of business and family matters has compelled him to call it quits.

He said he leaves under nothing but good terms, and that it’s really about freeing up time for him to spend more time with his kids and pursue some professional opportunities.

Perkinson said he also wants to allow talent within the party to churn through the ranks, and that by leaving now, he prevents the kind of hierarchical “logjam” that comes with longer-serving chairs.

The party this morning announced the imminent departure of Jake Perkinson. He’ll step down March 16, according to a press release, when he’ll be replaced on an interim basis by vice-chairwoman Dottie Deans.

Perkinson has been with the party for a decade, and helped orchestrate its near sweep of Republicans in the most recent election cycle.

We’ll have more on Perkinson’s tenure in tomorrow’s editions of the Times Argus and Rutland Herald.

Below, the release:

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Critics say campaign finance bill has gone off the rails

Posted on March 12, 2013 by | Comments Off

Elections watchdogs say a bill aimed at tempering the influence of money in politics would only exacerbate the problem.

The Senate Committee on Government Operations has spent much of the first two months of the session on a wide-ranging campaign-finance bill, S.82, that originally sought heightened disclosure requirements in the elections process.

The bill comes in the wake of a 2012 election cycle that saw super PACs make their debut in Vermont. Lawmakers from all three parties seemed to agree that while the Legislature can’t curb the flow of  money into these new entities, they can at least help voters follow the money.

But changes to the bill in recent weeks have drawn fire from elections watchdogs, who say the legislation would actually intensify the stream of cash flowing into the elections process.

At issue is a proposed increase in the size of allowable donations to candidates and political parties, who would, under the new rules, be allowed to receive larger contributions from their donors.

Proponents say the higher limits are a necessary evil aimed at helping candidates counteract the impact of super PACs, which aren’t bound by limits on the contributions they can accept. Paul Burns, executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, disagrees with the tactic.

“It’s like saying that I object to the amount of pollution that a large factory is discharging into the river, and my solution is to allow every other factory to increase its pollution in order to achieve parity,” Burns said in a release. “This arms race mentality only increases the problem of money in politics, it doesn’t solve it.”

Political candidates currently can accept no more than $2,000 from a single donor in a two-year campaign cycle. The Senate bill, up for a committee vote later this afternoon, would increase that figure to $5,000. The bill would allow candidates to accept up to $7,000 from political action committees, and $85,000 from political parties.

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As Shumlin sounds alarm over sequestration, GOP chairman urges calm

Posted on February 26, 2013 by | 1 Comment

As Congress inches closer to the brink, lawmakers and administration officials in Vermont are beginning to sound the alarm over the financial impacts of sequestration. But Jack Lindley, chairman of the Vermont Republican Party, says it’s much ado about nothing.

“There’s very, very little evidence that would indicate the sky is going to fall,” Lindley said this afternoon. “I think things are being terribly overblown.”

A report put out by the White House last week enumerates the financial impacts of sequestration on Vermont. Across-the-board cuts to human services, public safety, education, health care and the military will see a reduction in federal revenue of at least $9 million over the next seven months, according to the White House projections. And that figure doesn’t capture the dollar effect of furloughs or job losses for the thousands of federal employees that call Vermont home.

For a complete list of the Vermont-specific impacts, visit: http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/docs/sequester-factsheets/Vermont.pdf

But Lindley said Vermont can more than withstand the looming cuts. He said the “cuts,” after all, are actually reductions in rates of increase.

“There’s going to be very minimal damage,” he says.

Lindley said he’d like to see the D’s and R’s get together and cut a deal. But he said it needs to include at least as significant a spending cut as the one awaiting the country if they do nothing. If Vermont and the U.S. can’t absorb the kinds of spending reductions associated with sequestration, Lindley said, then we’re all doomed anyway.

“This is exactly what needs to happen if we’re going to get ourselves where we’re not borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we’re spending at the federal level,” Lindley said. “If we can’t get this accomplished, lord help us all in terms of what it means for our kids and grandkids.”

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Nine-person committee to recommend tax for single-payer – in 2015

Posted on February 15, 2013 by | Comments Off

The Shumlin administration and top legislative leaders will delegate to a nine-person panel the task of coming up with a way to finance single-payer health care.

The issue of financing has followed the Democratic governor since he made single-payer the cornerstone of his gubernatorial agenda in 2010. The single-payer law enacted five months after his election directed his administration to deliver a financing plan by last month. Shumlin, however, said it was still premature to tell Vermonters what tax he’d use to pay for the universal system.

The decision to form the new panel defers until 2015 the unveiling of an official financing recommendation.

The panel will includes two appointees each from Shumlin, House Speaker Shap Smith and Senate President John Campbell. The three men will then decide together who should fill the three remaining seats.

“They will really dig into the issue of what the cost of the system will be and how the system is currently financed, and what a system going forward would like if you financed it a different way,” Smith said today. “I would see them putting forward a financing plan that supported a single-payer plan, or as close to single-payer as we could get under law.”

For more on this story, check out tomorrow’s editions of The Times Argus and Rutland Herald.

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Dems pick Philip Baruth as next Senate Majority Leader

Posted on January 6, 2013 by | Comments Off

One of the more vocal critics of Senate leadership over the past two years was elected by his Democratic peers Saturday to help fix it.

Sen. Philip Baruth, a second-term Chittenden County Democrat, will serve as his 23-member caucus’ next majority leader. During his first two years in office, Baruth often chided Senate President John Campbell for a top-down leadership style he said was used to subvert the will of the majority.

Baruth on Sunday said he thinks he and Campbell are primed to improve the dynamic.

“A lot of problems were caused by bills that had lot of support in the caucus but then didn’t have quite enough support to get out of committee,” Baruth said. “We have had very good discussion about that at (the Senate Democratic caucus Saturday) and talked about ways to massage that situation so we wouldn’t have quite so much pressure build up around certain issues.”

Baruth named the childcare unionization bill specifically as one of piece of legislation blocked from seeing a floor vote last year. Does that mean the controversial legislation, opposed by Campbell, is headed for an up-or-down vote on the floor in 2013?

“I wouldn’t want to say anything definitive on any specific bill, but it certainly seems as though discussions are moving in that way,” Baruth said.

A professor of English at the University of Vermont, Baruth said even Republican lawmakers will have a voice in the Democratic caucus. Sen. Diane Snelling, a Chittenden County Republican, is running against Campbell for a Senate presidency that will be decided this week.

“I know John Campbell is not taking anything for granted, and I am very sure he’s talking on a regular basis with Republicans that have been in the body for awhile, as well as those just coming in,” Baruth said. “In the Senate, it’s less about R’s versus D’s and it’s more about wrangling over the vision for ideal government, and then how you pay for that ideal government.”

Baruth, who won the post in a unanimous voice vote, had voiced interest last fall in being a member of the leadership team, but said he’d cede the top spot to a more senior member of the body. No one else emerged to take the job.

Sen. Claire Ayer, an Addison County Democrat and chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Health and Welfare, will serve as assistant majority leader.

From his more experienced No. 2, Baruth said he’ll seek “advice and guidance.”

“Claire is an extremely experienced and savvy person,” Baruth said. “And what I need from her is mostly her advice.”

Lawmakers will convene in Montpelier on Wednesday for the opening of the 2013 session. Gov. Peter Shumlin delivers his State of the State address on Thursday.

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Vermont Progressive Party gets new ED

Posted on January 2, 2013 by | Comments Off

The Vermont Progressive Party has a new executive director.

Robert Millar, who has worked for the past several years on Bernie Sanders’ 2012 reelection campaign, will fill a post vacated after the November elections by Morgan Daybell.

According to a release sent out by the VPP this afternoon, Millar served on the Winooski School Board from 2010 to 2012 and has been a Progressive Justice of the Peace in Winooski since 2010.

“I am pleased that we were able to find someone who has both experience in, and a commitment to, our organization and an appreciation of the role we play in Vermont politics,” VPP chairwoman Martha Abbott said in a written statement.

Millar called the Progressive Party “one of the strongest, most important, liberal movements in the country and I’m proud to have been a part of that movement for the last several years.”

“The Progressive Party has been a part of the political landscape in Vermont for over 30 years, providing a voice for the working class and the many others whose voices were not being heard in the other two parties,” Millar said. “I’m thrilled that this position will allow me to continue to play a leading role in helping to guide the Party into the next 30 years of success, and beyond.”

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Candidates line up to replace Carris in Senate

Posted on December 14, 2012 by | 1 Comment

From Gordon Dritschilo at the Rutland Herald:

One name kept coming to the lips of Rutland County Democrats on Thursday: Eldred French of Shrewsbury.

French, who lost his seat in the Vermont House of Representatives after redistricting pitted him against fellow incumbent Dennis Devereaux of Mount Holly, was repeatedly described as being at the top of the list of candidates to replace Sen. William Carris, D-Rutland.

Carris announced Wednesday he was stepping down for health reasons. The Rutland County Democrats will hold a caucus and come up with as many as three names to forward to the governor, who will then appoint someone to fill out the remainder of Carris’s term.

County Chairwoman Kathy Hall said she expected to hold the caucus after New Year’s. She said she had heard four or five names, and one name more frequently than the others, but she would not disclose any of the names under discussion.

“I was told I have to remain unbiased and I am worried if I mention names I’ve heard, it would affect things,” Hall said.

However, a number of current and former county Democratic officeholders put French’s name forward Thursday.

For the rest of the story at the Rutland Herald, click here.

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Campbell admits to past failures, then wins second term as Senate pro tem

Posted on November 27, 2012 by | Comments Off

Following a lengthy mea culpa in which he acknowledged his “deficiencies” as a leader, Sen. John Campbell was nominated by his Democratic colleagues Tuesday evening to a second term as pro tem of the Vermont Senate.

Campbell had come under withering criticism during his first two years on the job, much of it from fellow Democrats who blamed the Windsor County lawmaker for a “chaotic” environment that at times resulted in dramatic procedural breakdowns on the Senate floor.

Sen. Ann Cummings, the Washington County Democrat who mounted a challenge to Campbell Tuesday, lamented a “dysfunctional Senate” that had, under Campbell’s aegis, become a body of which she was embarrassed to be a member.

“I was really hoping there was going to be a change in how things ran (after the first year with Campbell as pro tem),” Cummings said in a plea for votes Tuesday. “There wasn’t. It got worse the second year.”

Campbell acknowledged “shortcomings” that he said stemmed largely from his failure to engage all members of the body. He vowed to do better during the next biennium.

“I won’t back away from (my mistakes), I’m not going to make excuses for them,” Campbell said. “But I can tell you this – I’ve certainly learned from them. Me, who is always preaching to have communication be the most important asset that any leader can have, and I think I failed there.”

Campbell’s plea for a second chance ultimately earned him a lopsided 15-6 victory over Cummings, the longtime chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Finance. And while Republican Sen. Diane Snelling has said she’d like to take over as pro tem, Campbell is almost certain to win the title when the full Senate reconvenes on Jan. 9.

Look for a full rundown of Tuesday’s proceedings in tomorrow’s editions of the Times Argus and Rutland Herald.

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Taylor, Ellis to run for assistant majority leader

Posted on November 25, 2012 by | Comments Off

Waterbury Rep. Rebecca Ellis, and Barre Rep. Therese “Tess” Taylor are seeking a Democratic caucus vacancy in the Statehouse as the assistant majority leader, a position that helps facilitate communication between legislators and party leadership.
“I think in that process it’s really important for the individual legislators to know that they’re being heard and have an opportunity to speak and have an opportunity to discuss ideas and priorities,” Ellis said.
Ellis was appointed as a state representative by Gov. Peter Shumlin in 2011, and was recently elected to a full term.
She has also served on the Waterbury Select Board for seven years, including four years as chairwoman. She also served on the Waterbury Planning Commission from 2001 to 2006.
Ellis said in addition to helping build consensus through the funding and construction of two firehouses in Waterbury, she was moved by the ability of a group of people to work together in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene and that her experience was something she could bring to assistant majority leader.
During the immediate aftermath of the storm, a key group of about 20 leaders often met daily for about a month, and Ellis also helped facilitate 22 long-term recovery projects.
Taylor was first elected as a state representative in 2008. She served two three-years terms as a school board member with Spaulding High School and Barre Technical Center, which included time as chairwoman. She’s also been on the board of the Barre Supervisory Union, which she’s also chaired.
One of her major accomplishments in working with others includes helping resolve an 11-day teachers’ strike in 2005.
She also has board experience with the Central Vermont Workforce Development Board and Barre Partnership, a nonprofit focused on revitalizing the city’s downtown that she has headed as president.
Taylor said she’s been able to reach out to others because of her experience with the Vermont Historical Society, where she previously served as the director of education and public programming.
As reported in Seven Days, the opening comes as the current Democratic whip, Addison County Rep. Willem Jewett, is seeking the position of majority leader. Caledonia County Rep. Lucy Leriche held that position, but she didn’t run for re-election.
The caucus will vote on the decision Dec. 8.

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Posted in Elections, Politics, State Government, State House

Gov. Shumlin announces second-term staffing changes

Posted on November 13, 2012 by | Comments Off
Peter Shumlin

Peter Shumlin

Gov. Shumlin announced the following second-term staffing changes in a press release today:

Chief of Staff Bill Lofy will leave the administration to take a position with the Democratic Governors Association, which Gov. Shumlin is expected to chair in 2013. Lofy will step down as chief of staff at the end of the year; he will work for the DGA primarily from Vermont. Lofy formerly worked for U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota, and held senior positions at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Alex MacLean, Secretary of Civil and Military Affairs, will leave the administration in early 2013 to take a position in the private sector. MacLean staffed Gov. Shumlin during his tenure as President Pro Tem of the Vermont Senate, and has run his two successful gubernatorial campaigns. Continue reading →

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Posted in Elections, Governor, Politics, State Government

Citing autocratic style, Poirier plans to challenge Smith for Speaker post

Posted on November 9, 2012 by | Comments Off

BARRE — Rep. Paul Poirier, a Barre independent, said Friday he’s planning to challenge House Speaker Shap Smith, a Morrisville Democrat, for the leadership post in January.
“I’m quite sure that is what I’m going to do,” said Poirier, who plans to make a formal announcement Wednesday. But leaving the door open to a change of heart, he said he’s about “90 percent” certain he’ll run.
A longtime Democrat who first ran as an independent in 2010, Poirier said he has been troubled by what he sees as Smith’s autocratic leadership style — a style he said has marginalized minority parties and chilled debate in Vermont’s House of Representatives. Continue reading →

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